A depressing, downbeat tale that attempts to make sense of the lives of some highly dysfunctional, unlikable people, but never quite succeeds. Life in the small desert town of Whitson, California, is not easy for anyone who lives there. Cat, 15, lives with her single mother Jackie, a hard-living barmaid whose relationships with men never work out. Jason is jaded beyond his years and full of contempt for his stodgy parents, who simply can’t deal with him; his one great passion is in-line skating, his means of escape from an otherwise pointless life, with a gang of skaters who show him the respect he gets nowhere else. While fleeing from a crime, Jason crashes into a younger boy, killing him, a fact that hardly seems to register. Meanwhile, Cat is pregnant; she’s always loved Jason and hopes that he will love her back. Her chance to start over arrives when she miscarriages, but Jason is not so lucky; his encounter with the older brother of the boy he killed results in a terrible accident that changes Jason’s life forever, but cannot change the person he has become. Readers will breathe a sigh of relief if they make it to the conclusion of this book; some of it resembles literary psychobabble, but the images—of desperate lives careening out of control—linger. The passages of remarkably poised, fluid writing make Smith’s debut, despite its disheartening message, unusually strong. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7894-2625-0
Page Count: 182
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-679-99241-3 In Shreve’s funny version of a junior high identity crisis, a good girl goes bad, but redeems herself before any real crimes have been committed. When Amanda gets to junior high, she’s pretty much on her own. All of her old friends have either moved or are in other schools, and there aren’t any new friends on the horizon. Amanda tries to dye her hair black, digs out her mother’s old black clothes, a pair of clunky shoes, and dark lipstick, and sets out shock anyone looking on. At first it seems as if her efforts are paying off; she has already attracted the attention of the ninth-grade bad boy, Slade, and Fern, who wants Amanda to join her club. Amanda can’t wait to be a member, but must first accompany Fern on a shoplifting mission. It turns out that the only person Amanda shocks is herself, and she takes stock of all the other strikes against her—bad grades, annoyed parents and teachers, the disgust of her little brother. Shreve is not forging new ground, but she provides a wonderful look at the rebels and wannabes inhabiting every junior high school on the planet, and creates in Slade a bad boy/romantic interest that will have readers rooting. The angst of starting out friendless in a new school is written across most pages, and other Amandas out there who find this refreshingly real. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-679-89241-9
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Against a medieval setting far away and long ago, Jordan crafts a passionate and sensuous tale. Marnie, 15, comes to Torcurra, newly wed to a lord twice her age. He brings her to a tumbledown cottage that belonged to an ancestor, and in two days falls to his death in a drunken stupor. The villagers are deeply suspicious of Marnie’s role in his death, and become more so when she befriends a wild boy believed to be possessed by demons. Marnie finds out that Raver, as he is called, is actually deaf; she renames him Raven and begins to communicate with him in rudimentary sign language. Her only friend is the village priest, who finds her recalcitrant but full of goodness. Beyond some bodice-ripper elements, Jordan adeptly conveys the rhythms of ancient country life, of the tides and the plantings, of festival and gossip; also nicely spun out is the blossoming romance between Raven and Marnie. Fire and sweetness, the pulse of daily existence, how to cope with differences, and the several kinds of love are all present, wrapped in a page-turner to keep readers enthralled. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82140-9
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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